Green Party of Pennsylvania

Green Party Endorses Global Sumud Flotilla

FOR RELEASE ON
Friday, July 25, 2025

Media Contact, Colleen Schmotzer
[email protected] and 412-616-4664

Building the Green Party in Allegheny County, PA

By Colleen Schmotzer

The Green Party of Allegheny County (GPOAC) has been very active this year on many issues that are currently weighing down our community. I am the Working Groups Coordinator for GPOAC, and we are organizing around homelessness, combating ICE, and we cannot forget about Palestine. The atrocities that are taking place there are despicable to say the least.

Allegheny Greens have gone to many protests such as No Kings Day of Defiance on June 14, Hands Off on April 5, and Sunrise Movement Picnic on May 31. There is always a nice turnout, and we have had no problems at all. Many groups come together with GPOAC for these events. Jewish Voice for Peace and Pittsburgh Palestine Coalition are just a few. If you would like to join our Palestine Working Group meetings, they are on the second Wednesday of each month.

In Allegheny County, the Green Party is also very excited to support Theron Gilliland Jr. in his special election campaign for County Council Member at Large. I love being a Green and all that I do within the Green community.

Let's come together and see what we can do. We are stronger together! Consider joining us no matter where you are located, we need you and your voice. If you would like more information about GPOAC, please feel free to reach out to me, [email protected]

Colleen Schmotzer (she/her) was a co-chair for the Abandon Biden (Harris) Campaign. She was also a team lead in Allegheny County for Dr. Jill Stein’s 2024 campaign for President.

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Green Party of Pennsylvania

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sunday, April 27, 2025

CONTACT: 

Chris Robinson, Communication Team Co-Leader

267-977-0570 and [email protected] 

Green Party Has "Hands On" World Peace

Following the massive "Hands Off" demonstration on April 5, the Green Party asked its leaders to describe what the Green Party had its "Hands On." 

By Erin King (Centre County)

Steering Committee, Green Party of Pennsylvania

Although I was a lifelong Democrat until 2024, I'd had my doubts about some Democrats in office. For the most part, I held my faith that many of them were determined to uplift the working class and remain on the right side of history.

The rudest awakening overtook my entire being when I witnessed my government's brutally amoral response to the apartheid State of Israel's full-scale attack on the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. On October 7, 2023, Hamas waged an aggressive onslaught against Israel, including seizing 251 Israeli persons as hostages; a direct response to decades of extreme oppression and violence imposed against Palestine and its indigenous peoples.

Soon I would learn that not only had Israel helped for some time to fund Hamas but later admitted to murdering its own people on October 7. I would also come to know several other facts, which revealed to me the United States' long, dark history with the Israeli government. The U.S. has wholeheartedly participated in ensuring that the apartheid, illegal occupation, and endless human rights violations in Palestine, continues -- with our tax dollars, no less.

Now, we are well into 2025. We still see no end to the genocide that persists at the hands of Israel and the U.S. against the people of Palestine. Israel has become so emboldened by our corrupt White House and Congress, it has also launched genocidal attacks against Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.

I knew even prior to 2024 that I would never again vote for Joe Biden. I also did not feel any better about the prospect of voting for Kamala Harris. Eventually, I realized that I had heard numerous derogatory things about the Green Party --namely about Dr. Jill Stein -- over the years without doing any real fact-checking about the party. Once I decided to shut out all the ignorant screeching from the neoliberals and started to research the Green Party on my own, I discovered that this is where I need to be.

One stance on which the Green Party is clearly "Hands-On" is that of being for World Peace, which resonates with me like never before. The Green Party truly cares about the American people and wants to create a country that works the way it's supposed to for all Americans and not just the billionaire class .The Green Party is against the money-torching, soul-crushing war machine that has taken over our economy for an eternity. Instead of rebuilding our infrastructures, investing in more modern, reliable public transportation across the country on a grander scale (similar to what exists in Europe), increasing funding for education, hospitals, healthcare, affordable housing, and mental healthcare, the vast majority of our taxes fund the U.S. military and endless, pointless wars and genocide.

This is the bottomless pit that our hard-earned tax dollars are thrown into year after year, with nothing to show for it other than millions of lives destroyed both here and abroad and everyday life becoming more and more difficult for many Americans. Those at the top of the food chain, many of whom hold state and federal offices, enjoy the lucrative financial benefits of starting a war every 15 to 20 years at our expense.

There is something very sobering about finally waking up to what a mess your country and its people have become, largely due to the two ruling parties and their continuously obscene abuse of the American war machine. I cannot begin to explain how, even through all the mess, I still refuse to give up on doing whatever I can to arouse people from apathy and convince them that to see a different, better result, they'll need to seek a better party and cut all ties with the ones that will never stop hurting us.

I believe in the Green Party and in its strong, overall message of "Hands On" inclusion, fairness and justice for all.

• The Green Party has "Hands On" world peace.
• The Green Party has "Hands On" an end to settler colonialism and the international crime of apartheid.
• The Green Party has "Hands On" a 50 percent cut in the Pentagon budget.
• The Green Party has "Hands On" closing more than 700 Pentagon bases abroad.
• The Green Party has "Hands On" ending U.S. arms sales to other nations.
• The Green Party has "Hands On" ťthe U.S. ratification of the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons. 

The Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA), https://www.gpofpa.org, is an independent political party which stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPPA candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party’s Four Pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPPA, please email [email protected]. Please follow GPPA on social media: Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/gpofpa/; Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/pagreenparty/; and X, https://x.com/GreenPartyofPA 

For more information:

Platform Green Party of the U.S.; D. Foreign Policy; 1. Peace and Disarmament; https://www.gp.org/democracy#demForeignPolicy

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